Variation of Mandarin Nine Lion Dog Carpet

#20853

Main Hall Carpet

11’9” x 12’

Mid 18^th  Century

Structural Analysis:

Warp:cotton,off-white,natural,Z-4-S,somewhat irregular;

Weft:cotton,off-white,Z-4-S,winder plied, quite irregular;2 shots alternating; wefts thick and soft;

Pile:wool,Z-4;

Knot: PL/0 degrees warp depression/horiz. 6 x vertical 5 = 30 knots per square inch; knots somewhat irregular, some quite thin; [check for T knots along edges]

Sides: two cords each of two body warps, inner directly weft-attached; figure eight sparsely weft yarn wrapped;

Weft/knot ratio: 60/40 wefts predominant.

Remarks:

This is another variant on the popular Mandarin nine lion dog carpet.  The polychrome cloud wreath has exuberant, almost Baroque volutes at the four cardinal points.  The intermediary wreath sections were in field tones and have faded, making the composition rather hard to discern: the wreath would have been more salient before the changes to the long, curved, intermediate sections.

The dominant, dark blue lion dog appears at the top of the medallion and has a wide, particularly expressive face, complete with character creases and a canine snout.  The dog has real personality and individuality, unlike most of the animals in similar carpets. The main dog is alert and lively, with curved and slightly droopy ears.  All the dogs have light colored forepaws and small over pelts.  The creatures are well spaced and not crowded in the medallion.  The protected (protégé) dog is particularly small.  The main dog seems to have no parallels among published carpets and were any to appear, an attribution to the same workshop should be considered.

#18830 NingXia 15’0″ x 15’3″ circa 1770

The corners of the field employ double peony arabesques forming simplified “heart” points at the right angles.  The development here is much more schematic than l8830 and need not indicate the same workshop of origin.  Sprays of tree peonies, butterflies, leafy twigs, fractional tendrils and grassy clusters are spotted throughout the now buff field.

The dark blue peony main border is notable for the rare diagonal corner palmettes from which emanate foliate sprays in both directions in order to make a perfectly symmetric turn.  A bold T-fret inner border in salmon and dark blue has neat T’s in three corners and a single hook in one.  This is a certain indicator, if one is still needed, that no scale paper cartoons were available to the weavers.  Specifically, there was no formal illustration of how to make a fret border turn a corner.

#18355 NingXia 13’6″ x 13’10” circa 1750

As with our other examples, this nine dog main hall carpet was probably woven to the order of a successful Mandarin administrator.  Each of our large lion dog carpets seem to originate in a different shop, although 20853 and l8355 may be more clearly related than the others.  The extreme technical uniformity across the entire local industry deprives us of any unique idiosyncrasies and hence pattern is the sole evidence for differentiation.  One must also keep in mind that the same shop evolved over time, producing different carpets for different clients, changing the design pool when useful and implying a rotating work staff.

To view this rug on our website, click here.

Peking Carpet with Adapted Silk Textile Design

#19307

Beijing Carpet

Northeast China

370 x 417 cm

Circa 1880’s

The field design on this top condition antique Peking (Beijing) carpet is adapted from silk brocade textiles.

The beige field displays a taupe-rust allover pattern of grape leaves and short, curled arabesque segments accented by coiled, archaic navy dragons and tiny rosettes. The dragons center lightly defines eight lobed medallions.

The central dragon and its encircling double medallion are somewhat larger than the others. The dragons are in a 17^th century Ningxia style and ultimately depend on ancient archetypes on bronzes and ceramics.

The medallions are arranged in a 2-3-2-3-2-3-2 layout. The pattern stops just at the border frame and does not pass under it.

The ivory main border alternates ecru stencil-style lotus palmettes with bi-tonal medium blue and navy vine leaves, with attached tendrils. The plain outer border is in a rusty taupe shade.

There is light carving throughout to accentuate the pattern. The foundation is all cotton, and the Tibetan wool pile is of excellent quality. The handle is relatively pliable, and the texture is thick and meaty. This carpet has no repairs and is in top condition.

To view this rug on our website, click here.

Remarks on 2 Ningxia Daybed Covers or Small K’ang Format Rugs

#19168

Daybed Cover or Small K’ang Format Rug

Ningxia, North Central China

4’8” x 7’6”

Circa 1800

Structural Analysis:

Warp: cotton, off white, natural, Z-4-S, tightly plied;

Weft: cotton, off white, natural, Z-3,4-S, winder plied; two shoots alternating; some sections of weft passages fat and irregular;

Pile: wool, Z-3, Z-4;

Knot: PL/no alternate warp depression/6 per horizontal inch x 5 ½   per vertical inch = 33 per square inch [check for T knots along edges]

Weft/knots: 60/40.

Remarks:

The most interesting aspect of this Ningxia rug is the underlying allover pattern on the salmon buff (originally red) ground. Five scalloped medallions in a 2-1-2 layout are composed of peonies and sprays enclosing central fret elements. The larger, central motif on a yellow ground has peonies and sprays matching those of the lemon-yellow main border. Here the central device centers on a rosette. The subsidiary medallions are more overtly cruciform.

All these medallions are simply overlaid on a field of irregularly colored, but evenly positioned rosette dots. The continuous overall pattern passes beneath the medallions and borders. They do not interact with or attach to the textile spot pattern. These dots are a pile rendition of the effect produced by tie-dyeing nodes of fabric: The Chinese pu-lo technique. Although this attractive effect easily lends itself to rugs, actual surviving antique pieces seem to be quite rare and we have not been able to locate another early example in literature.

All four main border sections are symmetric out from their respective centers. The side borders have a “M” as midpoint while the end stripes employ peonies instead. The corners of the main border are formed from floriated sprays, the end ones compressed, and the side ones stretched. The salmon “T” fret inner border has more problems at the corners: there are three distinct attempts at resolution and only one at the top right and bottom left is successful.

In general, 19168 looks older than 20978 (seen below) and has a wholly distinct verso.

To view rug 19168 on our website, click here.

#20978

Daybed or Small Kang Formal Rug

Ningxia, North Central China

4’ 10”x 6’9”

circa 1800

Structural Analysis:

Warp:cotton,white,natural,Z-4-S,tightly twisted;

Weft: cotton, grey-white, mostly Z-4-S,some Z-2,3-S,winder plied, very soft and thick; two shoots alternating, straight to slack; some wefts more compacted than others;

Pile:wool,Z-3 or 4;

Knot: PL/no warp depression/horiz.5 x vertical 5 = 25 knots per square inch
[check for Knots along edges]

Sides: 1 cord of two body warps, closely weft covered;

Ends: n.o;

Weft/knot ratio:50/50 to slight knot predominance.

Remarks:

Irregular verso, large knots.

Ningxia rugs are not usually dark blue. This charming small rug has a broad circular lotus (or peony?) wreath encircling a central pair of lion dogs, the smaller clinging to the back of the larger. The lion dog of 20978 is distinctly roll-poly and friendly, not fierce or even barking. The lotus wreath is itself a collage, featuring lotus palmettes, intermediate peony leaf sprays and tiny fretwork sections.

The medallion is bracketed at each end by five tree peonies graded in size and framed by fret corners, each with two dragon heads. The overall effect is not far from the slightly larger Moore-Mumford no.285 daybed example, also with a dark blue ground. Here there are five peonies at each end of the field and a simple, singe larger polychrome cloud wreath around two distinct lion dogs.

The border of no.285 is a classic peony or lotus “S” pattern, whereas in 20978 there are thick dark blue leaves and diagonal small flowers in the scrollwork.  The field peonies of the two rugs are similarly stylized and geometric. The leaves and stems of 20978 are, however, more naturalistic than the correspondents of no.285.  In particular, the two-tone leaves of the latter are stiffer and less convincing than those of 20978.

The Moore-Mumford dog was rather optimistically dated to the late Kang-Hsi period, perhaps on the basis of the brocade pattern inner border, but given what is now known of the c.1700 design revolution in Ningxia, a date not far from 1800, or at least in the last quarter of the l8th century is much more possible.

To view rug 20978 on our website, click here.

#18355 Chinese – NingXia: circa 1750

#18355
Chinese, Ning Xia, Platform Carpet
3.99m x 4.06m (13’1” x 13’4”)
2^nd half of the18^th century.

Structure:

Warp: Cotton, white, natural, Z-4-S
Weft: Cotton, white, natural, Z-4, 2 shoots alternating
Pile: Wool, Z-3 or Z-4, asymmetric knot, 4-5 h. x 6½v. = 27 – 33/in²
Sides: 2 body wraps weft attached and weft wrapped thinly
Ends: No original finish.

This piece has a very close parallel in David Franses’s, Lion-Dog and 100 Antiques Rugs, pl.15, Thyssen – Bornemisza Coll., a platform carpet 3.53 x 3.86m. Both employ a multi-colored cloud wreath surrounding a central rounded medallion of large lion–dog and several cavorting smaller ones. The fields are a similar salmon, but the T-B. piece uses precious objects instead of clouds and lion-dogs; the peonies are virtually identical. The overall effect is quite close. The T.B. piece uses large flower scroll corners instead of close fret scrolls, and in the former they are en-suite with the middle narrow border, which, in turn resembles both inner and main stripes to varying degrees. The T.B. example, however, uses a 3-dimensional swastika fret stripe and an inner band with running dog fret. The other stripe is plain brown in contrast to plain blue in our piece. The knot count in the T.-B. ex. is 6 x 6 = 36/in², roughly in line with ours and characteristic of the period.

The medallion re-appears almost exactly on Franses pl. 14, a lion-dog rug ex. Andonian coll., 2.2 x 3.7m (7.2 x 12.1) with similar wreath and dog-filled roundel, but the field is a diagonal tone-on-tone fret pattern with scattered cranes and peonies. The main border is close to ours, but yellow rather than blue, and there is a swastika fret inner stripe. The other surround is plain blue. Franses dates it similarly, second half of the 18^th century. No. structural analysis is given except to indicate cotton foundation, wool pile.

The cloud wreath surrounding a lion-dog medallion seems to be characteristic of large pieces in the second half of the 18^th century.

To view this piece on our website, please use the following link:
http://www.rahmanan.com/inventory/show/18355/